Academic Freedom and Tenure: Between Fiction and Reality

This essay looks at how tenure and academic freedom are portrayed in fiction. Using novels written in the last century, the author discusses current portrayals of higher education and the ways in which fiction provides a mirror and a window to academic experience. The author contends that academic novels enable those who work in colleges and universities to gain a socio-cultural perspective about how others see the professorate. Given the fictional portrayals and the values they suggest, the author concludes with a caution about risks to the central beliefs and structures of academic life.